I bit the bullet and bought a new pair of running shoes. My existing ones (trail, that is - the Inov8 Rocklite 295s) were getting a bit long in the tooth with around 700 miles on them. I liked them a lot, but wanted to try some more minimalist-type of shoes. I like Inov8, so I maintained brand-loyalty and went with a lighter shoe - the F-lite 195. As the number indicates, this is a much lighter shoe (The number is the weight in grams of a men's size 9) with a much thinner sole and less aggressive tread.

They arrived too late on Tuesday to take them out, so I had to wait until Wednesday and my usual trek on the west side of Prison Hill while Mikaela had soccer practice. This time I created a new route with a double hill, mostly rocks and dirt with some sandy downhill. I liked the shoes and I felt faster (kind of like when you were a kid, and new shoes made you run faster!) and lighter on my feet. I could feel the rocks, but it wasn't a sharp stab like with Vibram 5Fingers or something like that. The thin sole allowed me to feel what was down there, without debilitating me.

I think the shoes might run a bit larger in size than the Rocklites, since I had gotten the same size but I seemed to have more space between my toe and the end of the shoe than in the Rocklites. Regardless, they didn't feel too big, and the width felt the same. I thought the shoe was comfortable and it did great on the 5.5 mile route.

Looking forward to a longer run this weekend in them. We'll see. I have soccer, and I need to do some trail maintenance. Running might take a back seat.